Elsewhere

January 23, 2008

CHILD MORTALITY: A newborn in Sierra Leone has the lowest chance in the world of surviving until age 5, and the prospects are almost as bad for children in Angola and Afghanistan, the UN Children's Fund said in its annual report, released Tuesday. In 2006, nearly 9.7 million children died worldwide before their 5th birthdays, mostly from preventable causes such as diarrhea or malnutrition.

VIETNAM PACT: Thousands of Vietnamese living illegally in the U.S. now face deportation after the countries completed an agreement Tuesday. Vietnamese who entered the U.S. illegally after the former foes normalized relations in 1995 could now be forced to return to their birth country, said Julie Myers, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

COPS DISARMED: Elite army soldiers took over police stations along Mexico's border with Texas on Tuesday, disarming police, checking for unregistered weapons and searching for items that might link the officers to drug cartels, according to the Mexican media.

WHALING CLASH: Environmentalists again clashed with Japanese whalers Tuesday in the Antarctic Ocean near Australia, with Greenpeace activists failing to prevent the fleet's factory ship from refueling. Protesters were drenched with freezing water from Japanese hoses as they piloted an inflatable boat, Greenpeace spokesman Dave Walsh said.

SPOTTING TERRORISTS: British police have offered to train university staff to spot extremists operating on campus despite complaints from Muslim students that they could be unfairly targeted, a government document said Tuesday. Lecturers have been urged to scrutinize students and invited speakers for signs they could be involved in radicalizing young people.